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Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia- is a serious mental illness, which can affect anyone of any age, gender or background. This is the biggest killer of any mental illness and early intervention is the key to recovery. People with Anorexia restrict their food intake and often use other behaviors to get rid of the food by laxatives miss use, over exercise. They also often experience a very deep overwhelming fear of gaining weight.

Anorexia impacts not just of a person mental but also the person physical wellbeing. A person who is suffering from an eating disorder is often unable to consider the severity of the illness and go to great lengths to hide the problems. /

“I felt that I was walking around with this deep dark secret hanging over me. I could not risk anyone finding out. I went to great lengths to hide it. The reality of the illness everyone could see from how thin I was”.

What Are the Warning Signs?

Most early signs of anorexia center on preoccupation with food or dieting. Behavior may appear obsessive or compulsive, and begin to consume more time. Eventually, disordered eating patterns will become more noticeable to others and potentially disrupt schooling, career, and relationships with family and friends.

If you’re concerned that you or someone you love may have an eating disorder, watch for these early warning signs of anorexia:

Refusal to eat

Denial of hunger, even when starving

Difficulty concentrating

Obsession with body size and shape

Skipping meals

Making excuses for not eating

Eating only a few certain foods considered safe, usually those low in fat and calories

Adopting meal or eating rituals, such as cutting food into tiny pieces or spitting food out after chewing

Weighing food

Cooking elaborate meals for others but refusing to eat

Psychological signs

Fear of fatness or pursuit of thinness

Excessive focus on body weight

Distorted perception of body shape or weight – for example, thinking they are much larger than they are

Underestimating or denying the seriousness of the problem, or believing there isn’t a problem at all, even after diagnosis

Spending a lot or most of their time thinking about food

Anxiety, particularly about eating in front of other

Low confidence and self-esteem

Difficulty concentrating

Perfectionism and setting very high standards for themselves Other mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia Nervosa

A lot of people often over eat, particularly at parties, Christmas, Easter, weddings etc. For people who has bulimia Nervosa are caught up in the cycle of eating large amounts of food (binging) and then try to get rid of the food by vomiting, taking laxatives, diuretics, fasting or over exercising (purging) are suffering enormous distress which can take over their lives. Early intervention is the key to a speedy and sustainable recovery.

People will often describe when they are binging of a feeling of “being out of control” or disconnected from what they are doing. After a binge people will often feel over whelmed by guilt, shame and blame that they have to purge to get rid of the food, to bring down their anxiety levels, and their fear of gaining weight.

Binging and purging cycles can dominate a person daily life. Which in turn can lead to difficulties in relationships, work and social situations. Someone who is suffering from bulimia can often hide their illness from others because they are at normal weight. This often stops a person from seeking help, because they see they don’t have a problem or they won’t be believed.

In addition, popular culture cultivates and reinforces a desire for thinness that may contribute to bulimia in both men and women. Success and worth are often equated with being thin, especially for women. Pressure from a peer group at school, work, or social circles can also fuel this desire to be thin, particularly among young girls and teens. For other people, bulimia symptoms may begin later in life, particularly during times of transition, if they experience trauma or stress that overwhelms their ability to cope.

Signs of Bingeing

Eating much more food in a binge episode than in a normal meal or snack

Feeling that eating can’t be controlled once a binge begins

Hiding or hoarding food

Making excuses for missing food, or money taken to pay for binge foods

Eating until the point of physical discomfort or pain

Bulimia describes an illness which contains a range of behaviors. There are regular episodes of “binge” eating, usually in private, of foods believed to be fattening and therefore in some way “forbidden” to someone wanting to control their weight. Foods typically eaten during a binge will include biscuits, chocolate, crisps, bowls of cereal, large amounts of toast with butter, chips, cakes, tubs of ice cream etc. Eating continues until the urge to eat is gone, tension is reduced, physical satiation is reached, often to the point of pain, or the person is interrupted.

Signs of Purging

Many signs of bulimia relate to self-induced vomiting, which is the most prevalent form of purging. They include:

Habitually going to the bathroom immediately after eating or during meals

Damaged teeth and gums

Swollen salivary glands in the cheeks (chipmunk cheeks)

Persistent sores in the throat and mouth

Sores, scars or calluses on the knuckles or hands caused by self-induced vomiting

Scratchy or raspy voice quality

Misuse of ipecac syrup to induce vomiting

The symptoms of Bulimia

You may experience short and long-term effects on your body, as well as emotional and behavioral symptoms:

Having a distorted excessively negative body image

Preoccupation body shape and weight.

Binge eating

Exercising too much

Isolating yourself

Feeling helpless

Poor sleep

Low mood

Losing interest in things and people.

Physical symptoms may also include:

Sore throat

Dehydration

Bad teeth (from vomiting)

Heart problems

Muscle spasms

Swollen glands

Feeling weak and tired

Weight swings

Change in periods (for girls)

Just because you experience one or more of these symptoms, it doesn’t mean you’re definitely affected by bulimia. It’s important to talk to your GP to get a full diagnosis.

Binge Eating (BED)

Binge Eating (BED)

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating and a feeling of distress about binge eating.

Orthorexia

Binge Eating (BED)

Orthorexia is not recognised as a clinical diagnosis but is characterised by excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy.

Emotional Overeating

Emotional Overeating

Emotional Overeating can be defined as eating large amounts of food in response to difficult emotions.

Some people may have some, but not all, of the typical signs of eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia, or their symptoms are a mix of anorexia and bulimia. Some people will suffer from more than one type of eating disorder in their lives.